Agricultural greenhouse gases & the New Zealand beef & sheep sectors
Quick facts
- Forty-nine percent of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture.
- At the same time, more than 38% of New Zealand's merchandisable exports come from agriculture.
- New Zealand's beef, wool and sheep meat industries contribute eight, 27 and 75% respectively, to their world marketplaces.
What's changed in the beef & sheep sectors since 1990 in on farm practices?
Beef
- Reduction in breeding herd numbers
- Increased number of finishing cattle - use of dairy origin animals for finishing
- Feed management strategies
- Pasture management strategies
Sheep
- Breeding and flock testing for animals with improved genetic merit (gorwth, reproduction)
- Use of pregnancy scanning
- Hogget mating
- Pasture management (growth quality)
- Optimisation of stock numbers to pasture growth
What's the impact of these on farm changes on productivity?
Beef
- Faster growth rates
- Increased finished weight of animal
- Increased meat yield per hectare (kg meat/ha)
Sheep
- Increased lambing percentage
- Increased number of offspring per ewe
- Increased finished weight of animal (lamb)
- Increased meat yield per hectare (kg meat/ha)
What's the effect of these changes on emissions intensity?
Emissions intensity of New Zealand beef and sheep sector is lower. For the beef sector, a great proportion of feed goes to production rather than maintenance and for the sheep sector, a lower ewe population is producing the equivalent lamb meat.
What's the latest from industry?
Beef+Lamb New Zealand Read more
On farm practice change summary tables
Beef
| On farm practice | Effect on farm productivity | Effect on emissions intensity (net) |
|
Reduction in breeding herd numbers
Increased number of finishing cattle - use of dairy origin animals for finishing
Feed management strategies
Pasture management strategies |
Faster growth rates
Increased finished weight of animal
Increased meat yield per hectare (kg meat/ha) |
Lower
* A greater proportion of feed going to production rather than maintenance * |
Sheep
| On farm practice | Effect on farm productivity | Effect on emissions intensity (net) |
|
Breeding and flock testing for animals with improved genetic merit (gorwth, reproduction)
Use of pregnancy scanning
Hogget mating
Pasture management (growth quality)
Optimisation of stock numbers to pasture growth |
Increased lambing percentage
Increased number of offspring per ewe
Increased finished weight of animal (lamb)
Increased meat yield per hectare (kg meat/ha)
|
Lower
* Lower ewe population needed to produce equivalent lamb meat * |
What else is being done to lower emissions on farm?
The NZAGRC is working in partnership with the PGgRc to explore options to mitigate GHGs on New Zealand farms. An overview publication is available for download
NZAGRC_PGgRC_What are we doing_ed2.pdf (17.12MB)
or you can read about our research programme
More information
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09/11/17
A major force behind many ground breaking advances in animal genetics is being recognised with a Science NZ Lifetime Achievement award this month. John McEwan, a principal scientist at AgResearch Invermay, has devoted his career to genomic...
Efficient farming
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Efficient farming Can reduce methane a bit But more must be done
OPINION: Farmers advocate takes wrong message from climate reports - Andy Reisinger
24/08/17
As a climate scientist, I strongly rebut Tuesday's opinion piece by Robin Grieve who claimed he was relating facts from the Motu Research report, Cows, Sheep and Science: A Scientific Perspective on Biological Emissions from Agriculture, that I...
Professor Louis Schipper talks about soil carbon
14/06/17
Louis Schipper talks to Bryan Crump on RNZ Nights about soil carbon. He talks about soil organic matter, soil density, nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur), land use and the ways we can store more carbon in soil to reduce the amount of carbon...
Sharing New Zealand's success story
17/05/17
The Livestock Research Group of the Global Research Alliance is documenting countries’ successes in reducing on-farm emissions intensity of livestock production at the same time as addressing other concerns related to increasing...
Sam McIvor: Farmers have made significant changes
05/04/17
Sam McIvor, CEO of Beef + Lamb NZ recently presented at the NZ agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation conference. Read more
Greenhouse gas awareness of livestock's contribution to emissions rises among farmers
29/03/17
More farmers are aware of the impact of livestock on global warming, says an agricultural greenhouse research expert. New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre director Dr Harry Clark said farmer awareness of their...
Sheep & Beef work to identifying strategies to reduce GHGs
01/09/16
The NZAGRC team are working with two B+LNZ monitor farms. The farms now have substantial, robust data and baseline farm systems models which demonstrate the extent to which the key management decisions and efficiency drivers impact on current...
What options are available to limit emissions growth?
31/08/16
Options to further enhance production efficiency New Zealand already operates a highly efficient and productive pastoral system. Over the past 20 years, farmers have steadily improved feed and nutrition, animal genetics, pasture management, and...
How can I estimate my on farm GHG emissions?
01/08/16
In New Zealand, In New Zealand, farmers can get a farm-level estimate of their greenhouse gas emissions (methane and nitrous oxide, and in some cases also energy use) using commercially available calculators, such as OVERSEER. These...
What is OVERSEER?
01/08/16
The most well-known calculator for estimating GHG emissions in farm is using is the nutrient budgeting tool OVERSEER®. This uses nitrogen inputs and outputs, as well as the number and productivity of animals, to calculate the unique nutrient...
The potential of using alternative pastures, forage crops and gibberellic acid to mitigate nitrous oxide emissions
21/05/16
Di, H. J., Cameron, K. C., Podolyan, A., Edwards, G. R., de Klein, C. A. M., Dynes, R., & Woods, R. (2016). The potential of using alternative pastures, forage crops and gibberellic acid to mitigate nitrous oxide emissions. [Article]. Journal...
Reducing New Zealand's agricultural emissions: Efficiency in the whole farm system
15/09/15
This publication provides an overview of how the NZAGRC is working with other organisations to understand what efficiencies can be gained on New Zealand's sheep and beef farms.
Reducing New Zealand's agricultural emissions: What we are doing (Edition 2)
28/04/15
This publication provides an overview of the GHG mitigation work been undertaken in New Zealand.
Heritability estimates of methane emissions from sheep
06/06/13
Pinares-Patiño, C. S., Hickey, S. M., Young, E. A., Dodds, K. G., MacLean, S., Molano, G., Sandoval, E., Kjestrup, H., Harland, R., Hunt, C., Pickering, N. K. and McEwan, J. C. (2013) “Heritability estimates of methane emissions from...
Sixty years of seasonal irrigation affects carbon storage in soils beneath pasture grazed by sheep
15/12/11
Kelliher, F. M., Condron, L. M., Cook, F. J., & Black, A. (2012). Sixty years of seasonal irrigation affects carbon storage in soils beneath pasture grazed by sheep. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 148, 29-36 Abstract For sixty...
